Exporting variants – Capture One

In Capture One, exporting variants is conceptually the same as processing them. By applying any settings or adjustments made, Capture One creates new images from the source files and saves them as either JPEG, TIFF, PNG, or PSD file formats. When selecting DNG as the intended file format, any adjustments made or metadata added in Capture One will not be retained. Source files must be available to Capture One when exporting. For example, if the images are located on an external drive, the drive must be connected.

Capture One Pro has some additional functionality and can export variants with metadata such as descriptions, copyright details, and keywords. You can also have annotations rendered with the image or as a separate layer when saving to PSD.

In Capture One Express (for Sony), the Export Variants dialog window offers options to select a destination for the new images along with folder creation, file naming or renaming, and a single recipe for selecting the parameters of the new file such as intended file format, image size, and color space.

With Capture One Pro, you can also add or disable sharpening and include metadata, such as EXIF data, keywords, and other IPTC data. With the exception of being able to export images with watermarks and using multiple process recipes, the processing and naming options are practically identical to those offered under Capture One Pro’s dedicated Output tool tab.

Select the image or images from the browser that you want to export.
In the main menu, go to File -> Export -> Variants... Alternatively, right-click on a Session Folder, Session Album or Catalog Collection and select Export -> Variants… from the menu options. The Export Variants dialog box will open.
From the Destination drop-down menu in the Location dialog, navigate to the desired location to save the exported image files to. If desired, add a folder and name it in the optional Sub Folder text field.
In the Naming dialog, enter a name directly in the Format text field or choose a naming format by clicking on the Action button (…) and adding the appropriate tokens. Type a Job name if applicable and add the Job Name token in the Format text field to enable it.
Go to the Recipe dialog and select the file format, quality, and other parameters as desired.
Click on the Export Variant button. When multiple images are selected, the task is added to the Batch Queue and is executed in the background, enabling users to continue their work during the export process.

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